Hello,

You are invited to attend a panel discussion entitled "Museums, Ethics, and Social Justice" on Tuesday, November 27th at 7pm at Seton Hall University. The event will take place in Seton Hall's University Center, Chancellor's Suite.

The panel will address an issue that is widely discussed among those interested in museums, namely what is the social responsibility of museums with regard to the communities they serve. Are museums just repositories of objects, places where one can spend a pleasant and perhaps even educational leisure afternoon, or do they have a larger  societal  role to play? Some leading authorities on museums, such as Richard Sandell (University of Leicester, UK), author of Museums, Equality and Social Justice (2012), is of the opinion that concerns for equality, diversity, social justice and human rights should be at the core of "museum thinking." Others feel that this is not a role museums should play.

The four participants in the discussion all have much to bring to the table. Anthony Gardner, Director of the State Museum in Trenton (BA, Communications and MA Museum Professions, both from SHU) has been deeply involved in the redevelopment of the 9/11 site as  a member of the Families Advisory Council for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Judith Dobrzynski is a well- known cultural journalist (see: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_H._Dobrzynski). Liz Sevcenko, heads up the Guantanamo Public Memory Project, jointly sponsored by Columbia University and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, and Eric Ledbetter, is a museum consultant who, until recently served as Director of International Programs and Ethics at the American Association of Museums. Sally Yerkovitch, Director of the Institute of Museum Ethics at SHU as well as an adjunct faculty member in the Museum Professions Program, will moderate the discussion, which we expect to be lively.

Regards, 

The Graduate Assistants 
[log in to unmask]
973-761-7966

This panel was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations in this panel do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Partial funding provided by Seton Hall's MA Program in Museum Professions, and the Institute of Museum Ethics.

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